Superhero Drama RAVEN Coming to The CW

Oh how we love our live-action superhero incarnations…from the Marvel mania that has been dominating silver screens for the past decade to scaled down versions of superhero classics like Smallville. Well, speaking of the CW, Variety reports that another superhero(ine) is destined to grace the boob tube. The CW is planning on adapting Raven, which will be written and produced by Diego Gutierrez who is known for his work as co-executive VP on V. The CW is hoping this will appease audiences who have enjoyed Smallville, which is ending its series run after this season. If you are familiar with DC comic mythology or have seen the highly entertaining Teen Titans cartoon series that used to be on the CW every Saturday morning, you might know about Raven – the half-demon half-human girl with a temper that chants strange alien words to levitate objects around her. But that’s not all; she can teleport and enter the minds of others and must constantly manage her emotions. If they get out of control, she could become a full demon (doesn’t sound too far from reality, ey guys?)

Hit the jump to check out some failed superhero developments you probably never knew about:

The CW has attempted to adapt other DC comic characters in the past. In 2008, it took a stab at the potentially drama-filled universe of Robin (the boy wonder sidekick to Batman who has not seen a live-action translation since the poor excuse of a film that Batman and Robin was). The network was planning on developing a show centered on Dick “DJ” Grayson acrobatic family before he took on the role of Robin and kicked ass in Batman’s shadow. This was to be titled The Graysons, and supposedly did not move forward because Warner Bros. Pictures Group prexy Jeff Robinov didn’t want the series to be on the air around the same time as Nolan’s Batman. Fortunately for fans of Raven, there are no other similar comic universes to run at the same time, aside from Teen Titans repeats.

The WB also tried to make a Smallville out of “Batman” in the spinoff Birds of Prety in 2002, but it did not last. Another past development that just couldn’t hang on the CW network was also a DC title, called Global Frequency. However, Fox’s Human Target, which was derived from a DC title, still remains. I hope Raven does better than its predecessors because it has an intriguing universe that deserves to be explored.